A recent discussion with a long-time friend who has walked this warrior’s path raised some good questions about the energy of this paradigm potentially becoming a trap when a person attempts to understand it on the deepest levels. This conversation has come up before and this seemed like a good time to discuss it.

Castaneda’s books are an incredibly detailed account of his journey of awareness. The books are, at times, repetitive and even contradictory but his point was to drive home the larger awareness in a way that could be perceived and understood by almost all people. For years my advice to aficionados has been to “connect to the energy behind the words”. As a woman, this is easy for me. Most men on this path approach the stories with much more ration than is possible for me thereby making the stories a necessity for them.

Over the course of many years a multitude of men and women have wanted to learn about the warrior’s path. Some are humble, some self-important but the bottom line is the same, they all want to experience, taste, test, feel, know freedom. After a while most of them ask, “what am I?” To which I respond, “a person.” And then they say, “no, I mean am I a courier…southern woman…stalker…dreamer…man of intent…?” My response is always the same, “why would you want to identify yourself as something that you don’t even understand?” Then they say, “well, what would I be if I understood?” So I laugh and emphasize the energies of their specific predilection while making sure to apprise them of all the different energies equally. It’s up to them to discover what their predilection is and they always do.

A recent conversation has been specifically about predilection. While there are definitely predilections towards a specific energy that one may hold, to remain fixated on a single point would be limiting and self-defeating, just as a fixated assemblage point does not serve the warrior. Limited, also, is the person who stands in the center and insists that they consist of energy that pertains only to the center without acknowledging the rest of the “wheel”. I’ve known people who come from both standpoints and for them, the energy does become trap.

The specific, described energies, however, only become a trap when the ego is involved. The women in my life who have embraced their wind or predilection are efficient and fearless sorceresses. They are fluid and know the other female warriors energies quite intimately in their quest for knowledge, by surrounding themselves with the various winds with intent. They respect and honor the other winds as they continue to refine their own predilections to perfection.

Once in a while a woman with a predilection towards a specific wind will desire to become something that she is not. Most often this occurs through self-importance. A woman who attempts to create herself outside of her predilection is someone who winds up lacking personal truth and personal power. Instead of honoring her own predilection and respecting the others they attempt to know what they cannot possibly know and instead of coming from a place of power and fluidity, they come from a place of having memorized a script and cannot be rooted in their personal identity. In doing this, they get trapped in the definitions and do not dance in freedom with and around the others.

Are the specified energy types in the Castaneda paradigm a skill or proficiency? To me the predilection that one has to a specific energy configuration is much more than a practiced or honed skill, it’s more like the intrinsic nature of a person, an inherent part of their being. While one can definitely practice to become proficient at an energy that is not inherent in them, why would they want to waste all of that energy trying to become something they are not?

While I understand the energy of a western woman, for instance, I would fail miserably in any attempt to be that exclusively. It would not come natural to me and as a result I’d be wasting energy trying to embody it. The same would be true in my attempts to be a tree. I could certainly imagine the roots going deep into the ground and my limbs spreading out far, wide and high just as I could imagine what my leaves and bark would look like to the point that I could feel it yet, I wouldn’t be a tree.

Don’t let the words trap you. As you begin to fully understand the way of the warrior you must begin to recapitulate the words, the definitions and the paradigm itself or you will never be free!

Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. All you have to do is connect with intent and be mindful. In spite of the serious and somber accounts by Carlos, it is quite evident that the sorcerer’s party had a really good time just being people who traveled together, dined together and had everyday experiences like everyone else.